What is a grey fleet?
A grey fleet can be defined as consisting of drivers who use their own private vehicles for business purposes. A grey fleet therefore encompasses any vehicle that an employee uses regularly to make work related trips.
Grey fleet management comes with different sets of benefits and challenges than managing a traditional fleet of vehicles.
What impact could Coronavirus have on grey fleet numbers?
It is thought that the lasting impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic could be seen in the number of grey fleet drivers.
As we all adjust to the ‘new normal’ there could be a shift in the number of grey fleet drivers for a number of reasons:
- People are wary of using public transport so instead shift to use of private vehicles for work related trips
- More people become home based workers, rather than office based. Which could effectively turn journeys to the office into business trips
Why is grey fleet management important to your business?
If your business is smaller sized with relatively lower mileage, they grey fleets may be beneficial given that they come with a lower cost to run than your own fleet of vehicles.
The change in behaviour linked to Coronavirus may also be a temporary one (no one really knows exactly how things will change in the coming months or years) a grey fleet may be more suited to your business needs.
But do keep in mind, that whilst you do not have all of the same responsibilities as running your own fleet of vehicles, as an employer it is not simply a case of letting your employees use their own vehicles for work related purposes.
When it comes to grey fleet management there are several things to keep in mind, including
- Employers have legal obligations to ensure that vehicles used by employees are road worthy, safe to use and lawfully on the road.
- There can be incidences whereby businesses can be made liable for accidents/vehicle damage caused by employees driving their vehicles for work related purposes.
- Difficulties in tracking the business mileage that your employees actually do.
If the size of your grey fleet does increases as a result of Coronavirus, best practice suggests that you must be hands on with regards to grey fleet management and up to speed with the condition of the vehicles being used by your employees. Take a look at this grey fleet management best practice guide for more information on factors to look out for.
At Anthony Jones we have specialists in fleet management who can help with not only your fleet insuranceneeds, but also your risk management processes and procedures. If you are seeing changes in the nature of your workforce and want to discuss either of these areas of fleet management than do get in touch with us on commercial.motor@anthonyjones.com or 020 8290 9099.
